New Testament 80

New Testament 80

 

Vegetation in Israel or Palestine
In Israel/Palestine
(Click to enlarge.)

 

Luke 6:27-36

Compare Matthew 5:38-48

 

The differences between the Matthean text (the Sermon on the Mount) and the Lukan text (the Sermon on the Plain) are considerable at this point; each includes material that the other doesn’t.

 

I’ll concentrate on just one comparison here, though:

 

Whereas Matthew 5:48, much beloved of Latter-day Saints, reads “You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect,” the Lukan parallel (6:36) says “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.”

 

That’s considerably weaker in terms of human deification, though the context in Luke and the context of Matthew 5:43-48)suggest that Jesus specifically had perfection in love and mercy in his mind when he was speaking.

 

But I note, too, that Luke itself isn’t utterly bereft of language suggesting something that approaches human deification:  “Your reward will be great,” says 6:35 (immediately preceding the text “Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful”) to those who do good and love their enemies and give without expectation of return, “and you will be sons of the Most High; for he is kind to the ungrateful and the selfish.”

 

That’s the language of adoption into the divine family, and of heirship.

 

 


Browse Our Archives

Follow Us!